Biography

I am an Associate Professor of Geography and the Director of
Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Geography at Syracuse University. I
hold degrees from the University of London (B.Sc. Environmental Science 1987;
M.Sc. Surveying 1990) and a PhD in Geography (1999) from Louisiana State
University. I have served on the faculty at Syracuse University since 1999.

I specialize in geographic information systems, remote
sensing, land use and land cover, and human-environment interactions. Much of my
research has focused in the neotropics, including Costa Rica, Brazil, and
Guyana, although I have also studied historical land changes in the Adirondacks
of New York State. I have published on applications of GIS and remote sensing
to land-use and land-cover changes, selective logging operations, indigenous hunting patterns, and uses of traditional knowledge in vegetation mapping using remote sensing imagery and identification of multiple-use tree species in Guyana. I am currently examining the spatial history of
land use around Onondaga Lake, New York through multiple perspectives, and
attempting to find new ways to map and visualize those changes. I teach courses
in introductory and advanced GIS/GIScience, remote sensing, global environmental
change, tropical environments, and spatial storytelling, and advise graduate
students within my realm of expertise. I am interested in strategies to improve
curriculum and student engagement.

Read, J.M. 2006. Satellite Remote Sensing for Management and Monitoring of Certified Forestry: An Example from the Brazilian Amazon. In Globalization and New Geographies of Conservation (ed. K. Zimmerer), pp71-91. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Research Projects

Where
are the women Geospatial Science leaders of tomorrow? Building the TRELIS to
help retain and develop women leaders.

Onondaga Lake: compiling and developing a
spatial history of Onondaga Lake.

Biodiversity dynamics and land-use changes in the amazon: multi-scale
interactions between ecological systems and resource-use decisions .by
indigenous people: based in the Rupununi of southern Guyana.

Selected Professional Activities

Editorial Board of the Geographic Information
Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (2016-2017).